During Foreign Minister Yair Lapid’s visit to Washington this week, new options that were not previously on the table were discussed for dealing with Iran’s nuclear threat, Channel 12 reports, citing a senior official in the minister’s entourage.
Washington has become increasingly frustrated with Iran’s refusal to swiftly return to the 2015 nuclear deal.
The official also tells the network that on the subject of the US plan to reopen its Jerusalem consulate for the Palestinians, the Israelis made clear to their hosts that the issue “could have significant political ramifications for the Israeli government.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accompanied by Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, left, and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyanin, right, appear at a joint news conference at the State Department in Washington, on Wednesday, October 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool)
The right flank of the government is strongly opposed to the reopening of the consulate in Jerusalem closed by the Trump administration, and the matter is seen as potentially destabilizing the coalition.
When the Trump administration moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, the mission was subsumed into the embassy as the Palestinian Affairs Unit, which was regarded by Palestinians and others as a major blow to their diplomatic standing.
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